Musical Country Contest 1
CCU |venue = , |winner = |vote = Each country awards two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favorite countries. |entries = 18 |debut = All countries debuted |return = |withdraw = |disqualified = |null = |nex2 = }} The Musical Country Contest 1 will be the first edition of the Musical Country Contest. On 5 October 2018, the founding and development of the contest was announced by the production company, Country Contest Union. It is scheduled to take place sometime in 2018. Location On 5 October 2018, the CCU confirmed that a tender process had already begun in the past weeks to determine the host broadcaster and country.aa On 15 October 2018, it was announced that Austrian broadcaster would host the contest in a selected venue in the country.aaa On 19 October 2015, ORF confirmed that the contest would be held in the venue in , which can hold 7,022 people.aaa Format On 5 October 2018, the CCU announced that they would launch a new contest in 2018 with countries competing against each other with original music,aa which marked the sixth CCU event to be developed.a It was subsequently confirmed that the company would co-produce the competition with the selected host broadcaster.a On 22 October 2018, the CCU announced that to keep the format "exciting", they would invite one associate country to the contest every edition,aa but that a top 3 position would allow the country to defend its result and therefore delay the debut of other associates.aa On 30 October 2018, the CCU confirmed that 18 countries would take part in the event, including a to-be-determined associate country, chosen to be hailing from the .aa. On 5 November 2018, it was announced that and would join the contest as the 18th country, following a random draw with associate countries from the Americas.aaaa Participants Other countries Eligibility for potential participation in the Musical Country Contest requires a national broadcaster with active CCU membership, or a special invitation from the CCU as was the case with , , and in the Country Contest in the past. It is currently unknown whether the CCU issue invitations of participation to all 57 active members like they do for the Country Contest. However, given that a number of broadcasters publicly declined whether with or without a statement, it is likely that such is the case. Active CCU members * – On 19 October 2018, French broadcaster announced that due to ongoing changes with their programming, that a debut would not be possible in the current edition.a * – On 17 October 2018, Icelandic broadcaster announced that it would not compete in the current edition, but confirmed that a delegation would observe the contest, with the possibility of broadcasting.a * – On 25 October 2018, stated that Malta would not compete until it "had a grasp sic of the contest."a * – On 22 October 2018, Slovenian broadcaster stated that it would not participate, but did not rule out a debut in the future.a The following countries (or broadcasters) declined without giving any (further) statements: * – a * – a * – a * – a * – a * – a * – a * – ,a aa * – a * – a * – a * – a * – a * – a * – a * – a * – a * – a * – a * – ,a a * – a * – a * – a * – a